Category: Adulting

Adulting, Behavioral Health, Mental Health, Teaching

Professional Alchemy: Clinical Energy to Creative Energy

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

This past Summer the clinic and practice that I built over nearly 15 years transitioned to new, old hands. I knew it would provide a psychic relief for me; and even still I underestimated the freedom that the transition offered to my life. Not just a release from time expenditure or financial responsibility, but the low-grade white noise that had pervaded every waking minute of my life for so many years. For those of you who have had an experience like this, you know… it’s priceless. I decided, very unlike myself, to take a pause. To reject diving into yet … Continue reading Professional Alchemy: Clinical Energy to Creative Energy

Adulting, Events, Musing, Self-Awareness, Teaching

Eastside Natural Medicine is graduating!

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

This is the time of year when many of us are watching our babies move up and move on. Whether it is transitioning from elementary school to middle school (like my young gentleman), from high school into university life, or from college into the wild world of adulting, this season is abundant with transitions. Our lives are as full as our days are long. Soon this long season of growth and upward progression will have its day in the sun. Well…not that much sun…it is the PNW in June-uary after all 😉 Alongside it all, my other baby, Eastside Natural … Continue reading Eastside Natural Medicine is graduating!

Adulting, COVID-19

Toilet Paper…

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

A few weeks back I received a request to talk to a reporter about hoarding. I offered to field it; while I am not an expert in hoarding per se, I have worked with thousands of families over my years. I have had the privilege and opportunity to be in many hundreds of people’s homes. And what I know is that there is *no* one way to live, despite what we have been socially conditioned to think. What I also know is that some folks do hoard, and for a myriad of reasons. So I thought I was going to … Continue reading Toilet Paper…

Adulting, Grief & Loss, Musing, Parenting

Living and Grief

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

I was able to sit with my friend and colleague, Abby Desjardien, to chat about grief and living, and how they are both big and sometime equal parts of this human existence. And maybe that grief is necessary, instructive, and not as dark or scary as we think. Check out her newly launched podcast and our episode here: The Art of Living and Grieving with Dr. Sunita Iyer Enjoy! #griefworkislifework #griefworkismywork #heartoutsideforever Continue reading Living and Grief

Adulting, Grief & Loss, Parenting, Postpartum

Postpartum Grief, Depression, and Anxiety

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

I spend a lot of time with postpartum people. Figuring out how to hold their hearts and help them thrive after the birth. Talking through the transition from person to parent, or established parent to parent of yet another. All of it is new, and all of it fraught with uncertainty. People rarely talk about the grief of being a new parent, and really of parenting, period. When you choose to parent, we have to acknowledge that not all people choose and some are forced to. And even still, in all situations, there is a grief. We decide or have … Continue reading Postpartum Grief, Depression, and Anxiety

Adulting, Parenting

Mothering Day

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

What is Mother’s Day anyway? Brunch, bubbles, and blooms? I have always had a hard time with this day, even after I became a mother. It never quite met the expectation I had of digging into what it means to mother or be mothered. And I guess I have a problem with life events that are supposed to be important and beautiful, but feel more like small talk. I have my mother in my life and she is a great mother. But it wasn’t always that way for me. We are pretty different people. We see risk differently, we approach … Continue reading Mothering Day

Adulting, Breastfeeding, Musing, Natural Childbirth, Parenting, Postpartum, Pregnancy

El Dia Internacional de la Matrona

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

Today is May 5th. Some folks think of it as a good day for margaritas and tacos. It’s also International Day of the Midwife. This is a day, acknowledged all around the world, where we honor the people who quietly walk through fire as a way of life and a profession. Midwives are the attendants for most births around the world. In some places they are traditionally trained by their elders. In many or most places (and in ALL the places that have better maternity and neonatal outcomes than the USA…) Midwives are very highly trained in sitting on their … Continue reading El Dia Internacional de la Matrona

Adulting, Musing, Postpartum, Pregnancy

Being Born Isn’t the Only Thing That Hurts…

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

In the last two years I have changed my work-life balance. One may look at my 4 or 5 spinning plates and not find a shred of balance…It’s a practice; not a destination. At least that’s what I tell myself. One of the ways that I have radically shifted my life is not being on call anymore. I started being on call nearly 20 years ago, working with adolescents who were becoming young parents or were already parenting. And then I shifted into being on call as a midwife attending births 13 years ago. Pagers and phones have accessorized my … Continue reading Being Born Isn’t the Only Thing That Hurts…

Adulting, Grief & Loss, Musing, Parenting, Self Care

Who do you look up to?

Dr. Sunita Iyer ND, LM

As a I move further into my adult life, and am making “bigger” moves, it occurs to me that I have never had a clear picture of who I look up to. I have never even articulated or seen the one person that I most revere or emulate. Of course I have seen bits and pieces, namely in my parents. They are incredibly smart, industrious, practical, successful, and, most importantly, generous and kind people. The reality of being an immigrant family in the 70s is that we were distanced from our extended family. I never grew up with my grandparents; … Continue reading Who do you look up to?